Attachment Flashcards

Question

The role of the father - Schaffer and Emerson - fathers as primary attachment figures

Answer 1

Fathers as primary attachment figures - there is more primary attachment than being first it has special emotional significance. Their relationship with their primary attachment figure forms the basis of all later close emotional relationships. Evidence to suggest fathers do take on a primary caregiver that able to adopt emotional role more typically associated with mothers.

Answer 2

Films four months old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers, and secondary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants compared to secondary caregiver fathers. Which is all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony so this behaviour appears to be more important in building attachment with infant. Father can be more naturally and more emotion focused primary attachment figure and provide responsiveness for close emotional attachment. Key to attachment = level of responsiveness not gender.

Answer 3

Degree of sensitivity - more secure attachment if father is more sensitive to child’s needs. Type of attachment with own parents = single fathers tender form similar attachment they had with theirs. Marital intimacy with partner affects type of attachment with child. Amount of support father gives to partner effects type of attachment.

Answer 4

This effects how important the relationship is generally the more positive attachment a child has the better but individual differences in how father and child respond will always vary.

Answer 5

Evidence suggests that on whole children with attachments to their fathers going to have better relationships with peers, less behaviour problems and more able to regulate their emotions therefore support the idea of the importance of the role of the father. Children grow up without fathers tend to do less well in school, have higher levels of aggression, especially boys again suggesting the importance of role of the father

Answer 6

This may be due to researchers being interested in different research questions. Some researchers want to understand the role of the father as a secondary attachment but others are more concerned with fathers as primary caregivers and these have seen fathers behaving differently than mothers and having a distinct role. This makes it difficult to answer the question of ‘what is the role of the father?’

Answer 7

Longitudinal studies such as Grossman suggest fathers have a distinct role in children’s development involving play and stimulation. However, mccallum and golombok 2004 found that children growing up in a single or same-sex parent family do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families suggesting fathers don’t have a distinct role. Counter - findings may not be in conflict. Fathers may typically take on particular roles in two-parent heterosexual families. Other family structures adapt to not having father. This means that findings may be clear after all - there may be a distinctive role for fathers when present, but families adapt to not having one.

Answer 8

Could be due to result of traditional gender roles in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men so fathers don’t feel they should act like that. Or female hormones create high levels of nurturing females are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure.

Answer 9

He investigated whether food or comfort was more important in forming a bond. He reared 16 rhesus monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’ Condition 1 - milk was dispensed from plain wire mother Condition 2 - milk was dispensed from the cloth-covered mother The monkeys preferences were measured To measure attachment-like behaviour, Harlow observed how the monkeys reacted when placed in frightening situations. Eg Harlow added a noisy mechanical teddy bear to the environment Harlow and his colleagues also continued to study the monkeys who had been deprived of their ‘real’ mother into adulthood

Answer 10

Baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from cloth one when frightened eg by a noisy mechanical teddy bear, regardless of which dispensed milk. Showed ‘contact comfort’ was more important to the monkey than food when it came to attachment behaviour. Follow up - followed the monkeys who are deprived of a real mother into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect. Found reared with plain mother were most dysfunctional and with cloth covered mother did not develop normal social behaviour as in more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys and bred less often typical monkeys as unskilled at meeting also neglected they’re young and attacked or even killed their children. Conclusions - critical 90 day period for attachment formation with a mother figure after that time attachment impossible and damage done by early deprivation irreversible.

Answer 11

Monkeys are clearly more similar to humans than Lorenzes geese and all mammals share some similarity in their attachment systems. However monkeys are not representative of humans and in some ways the human mind and behaviour is much more complex. This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlows findings to humans.

Answer 12

Harlows procedures caused severe long-term distress to his monkey participants and they became aggressive and did not develop normal social behaviour. However the research led to useful applications. His findings and conclusions have important theoretical and practical applications. This suggest that in spite of its benefits Harlows research should perhaps not have been carried out.

Answer 13

It helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and thus intervene to prevent it (Howe 1998). We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes. This means that harlows research has both benefited animals and humans.

Answer 14

Investigated the mechanisms of imprinting where the goslings follow and form attachment to the first large thing they meet. He split a large clutch of goose eggs into two batches one hatched naturally by the mother in natural environment and the other hatched in animal incubator and the first moving object they saw was Lorenz. he recorded their behaviour and marked them to determine whether they were naturally hatched or incubated.

Answer 15

Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas control group followed their mother. The same pattern of behaviour was seen when they were all released from an upturned box with incubator hatchlings going to Lorenz and showing no bond with natural mother. The bonds proved irreversible. Called imprinting bird species mobile from birth like Gossling attached to and follow first moving object they see. Lorenz Identified a critical period where imprinting needs to take place = approx 4 - 25 hrs after birth. If imprinting does not occur in that time the chicks do not attach themselves to mother figure.

Answer 16

Found goslings that imprinted onto humans would attempt to mate with humans as adult birds (1952). He described a peacock that was reared in a reptile house at zoo so first moving objects saw after hatching was giant tortoises and as an adult would only direct court ship behaviour towards giant tortoises he concluded the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting.

Answer 17

Lacks generalised ability to humans as these findings are extrapolated from animals. Mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than in birds which was the sample. For example, mammals show more emotional attachment than birds and in mammals It’s a two-way process so not just young who attached their mothers the mammalian mothers show emotional support to young - so not appropriate to generalise to humans.

Answer 18

Lorenz wanted to prove his idea of imprinting so may have interpreted the behaviours to provide support for his theory. Means the study might lack internal validity. However considerable replications find the same results so it’s reliable and therefore likely to be internally valid.

Answer 19

Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) exposed chicks to simple shape-combinations that moved. When shown a range of moving shapes, the chicks followed these in preference to other shapes. This suggest that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object.

Answer 20

Learning theory explains attachment ( behaviourism) - the idea of cupboard love based on becoming attached to those who feed - classical conditioning of association. Emphasises importance of the attachment figure as a provider of food. All Attachments are learned through conditioning.

Answer 21

Involves learning to associate two stimuli. The baby has to learn to form at attachment with its mother. By the process of classical conditions the baby forms an association between the mother (a neutral stimulus) . The food serves as an UCS and the feeling of pleasure that comes from being fed (an innate UCR) - associated with mother and food. When the baby sees this person they have an expectation for food as they are comforted by the food. The neutral stimulus is now a conditioned stimulus = mother Once conditioning has taken place the sight of the caregiver produces a CR of pleasure. The mother now stimulates a feeling of pleasure on her own even without food. To a learning theorist this conditioned pleasure is love ie an attachment is formed and the caregiver becomes an attachment figure.

Answer 22

Involves learning from the consequences of a behaviour. It can explain why babies cry for comfort = important behaviour in building attachment. Crying leads to a response from caregiver eg feeding. As long as caregiver provides the correct response crying is reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence. The caregivers response is a comforting social suppressor behaviour. At the same time as the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops (negative reinforcement is escaping from something unpleasant, which is reinforcing). This interplay of positive/negative reinforcement strengthens an attachment.

Answer 23

Hunger is a primary drive, an innate biological motivator. We are motivated to eat to reduce the hunger drive. Robert sears et al (1957) suggested that as caregivers provide food the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is then a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive.

Answer 24

Ivan Pavlov study supports classical conditioning and associating something with food Little Albert

Answer 25

Lorenz geese imprinted on the first large moving object they saw regardless of whether it was associated with food. So the attachment is not through conditioning like learning theory says. Harlow (1959) there is no support for the importance of food. The bay monkeys cuddled a cloth-covered object in preference to a wire one that dispensed milk so goes against learning theory as did not form attachment to who fed it. Shows factors other than association with food is important in formation of attachments.

Answer 26

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found babies tended to form their main attachment to their mother regardless of whether she was the one who usually fed them. Russell Isabella et al (1989) found that high levels of interactional synchrony predicted the quality of attachment. These factors are not relayed to feeding so suggests food is not main factor in formation of human attachments.

Answer 27

We learn in a number of ways through association in real-life eg little Albert case study shows that when you combine a loud noise (UCS) with a NS (a rat) after much repetition this creates a CR (fear of the rat). This suggests learning theory may at least play a part in attachment formation as it seems unlikely that association with food plays a central role in attachment but conditioning still plays a role eg baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult which may influence the babies choice of their main attachment figure. Counter - this point of view ignores the fact that babies take a very active role in the interactions that produce attachment for example they initiate interactions (Feldman and Eidelman 2007). This suggests that learning theory may be inappropriate in explaining any aspect of attachment.

Answer 28

Suggest parents teach children to love them by demonstrating attachment to behaviours for example hugging. Parents also reinforced loving behaviour by sharing approval when babies display their own attachment behaviours e.g. giving attention to parents. Social learning perspective has further advantage that it is based around two- way interaction between baby and adult so fits better with research into the importance of reciprocity.

Answer 29

He rejected learning theory and looked at Harlows and Lorenz work for ideas and proposed the evolutionary explanation

Answer 30

Bowlby gave an evolutionary explanation - that attachment is innate system that gives a survival advantage. Imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure young animals stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from hazards.

Answer 31

Monotropic = have a primary attachment figure He believed that the child’s attachment to one particular caregiver is different and more important than others. He called this person the ‘mother’ but clear it did not need to be biological mother or a women. He believed the more time baby spent with this primary attachment figure/ mother-figure the better. Put forward two principles to clarify this 1 = law of continuity - the more constant a child’s care, the better quality of attachment 2 = law of accumulated separation - the effects of every separation add up. So, ‘the safest dose is therefore zero dose’

Answer 32

Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours (eg smiling, cooing, gripping) that encourage attention from adults. The purpose of these social releasers is to activate adult social interaction ie make an adult attach to the baby. Bowlby recognised that attachment is a reciprocal system.

Answer 33

Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period of about two years when the infant attachment system is active. He viewed it as a sensitive period. A child is maximally sensitive at 6 months and this may extend up to the age of 2 years. If an attachment has not formed in this time a child will find it much harder to form one later.

Answer 34

The first attachment forms an internal working model of relationships. Child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their caregiver and it serves as a model for what relationships are like eg a child whose formed an expectation that all relationships are loving and reliable and will bring these qualities to future relationships but if first relationship involves poor treatment they will tend to form further poor relationships in which they will expect such treatment and treat others in this way. The internal working affects the child’s ability to be a parent themselves. People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented. This explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves.

Answer 35

This attachment will continue with the next generation of children.

Answer 36

Internal working model predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed from one generation to the next. Bailey et al (2007) assessed attachment relationships in mothers and their one year old babies. The researchers measured the mother’s attachment to their own primary attachment figure eg parents and assessed the quality of attachment of the babies. They found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies. Supports Bowlbys idea that mother’s ability to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working models which come from their early attachment experiences.

Answer 37

Clear evidence cute baby behaviours are designed to elicit attention from caregivers. Brazellen at al (1975) observed babies trigger interaction with adults using social releasers. The researchers then instructed the babies primary attachment figure to ignore their babies social releasers. Babies became increasingly distressed and some eventually curled up and lay motionless when before they were normally responsive. Illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests they are important in the process of attachment development.

Answer 38

Schaffer and Emerson found (1964) in study of 60 infants from Glasgow that most infants formed their first attachment with one particular person but nearly one third formed multiple attachments in which there appeared to be no preferred attachment figure. First attachment does appear to have a particularly strong influence but not necessarily different in quality from child’s other attachments eg other family member attachments provide all same key qualities eg emotional support, safe base.

Answer 39

Czech twins were ‘discovered’ at the age of 7. They had been locked up and isolated from the outside world and abused by their stepmother since birth. When discovered they had no language ability at all. After loving one from two sisters by the age of 14 the Czech twins showed normal social and intellectual functioning and were able to form meaningful attachments - could argue the had each other and made attachment top each other.

Answer 40

Despite rapid advances in genetics there is no direct evidence for attachment genes.

Answer 41

The temperament hypothesis (kagan 1984) states that we have inborn temperamental differences such as ‘easy’ ‘slow to warm up’ and ‘difficult’. Psychologists who support this hypothesis believe that these temperaments can affect infant and adult relationships.

Answer 42

Siroufe et al (2005) longitudinal study followed ptps from infancy to late adolescence and found that early attachment type predicted later emotional and social behaviour eg secure infants were more likely to be rated as popular. Erickson et al (1985) observed 4 to 5 yr olds in pre-school settings. They found that securely attached children were less dependent on the teacher and were more confident undertaking tasks than insecurely attached children. Hazan and shaver (1987) found that adults ‘romantic attachments’ were closely linked to their infant attachments. Securely attached infants tended to have secure romantic attachments.

Answer 43

Longitudinal study of institutionalised children, living in orphanages, who had formed no attachments in the early parts of their lives and had difficulty forming relationship with peers.

Answer 44

Laws of continuity and accumulated separation suggest that the mother who may work may negatively affect their child emotional development. Feminists like Erica Burman (1994) pointed out this belief sets up mothers to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in the future and an excuse to restrict mother’s activities e.g. return to work. but prior to Bowlbys time people didn’t think mothers role was important as many custody disputes were settled in favour of the father because mothers were not regarded as necessary. Bowlbys ideas have many real-world applications such as key workers in daycare who build an attachment with particular babies.

Answer 45

ainsworth and bell (1970) developed the strange situation as a method to assess the quality of a babys attachement to a caregiver. method = controlled observation - in a lab so well-controlled environment - with a two-way mirror through which the psychologists can observe a babys behaviour design = repeated measures sample = infants aged 12-18m IV = the 8 different epiosdes of the strange situation eg mother leaves, mother returns DV = the babys responses - including seperation anxiety, stranger anxiety, reunion behaviour and seeking proximity

Answer 46

five categories are used to judge attachment quality 1) proximity seeking - well-attached babies stay close to caregiver - its tested through exploration 2) exploration and secure-base behaviour - good attachment makes a baby confident to explore using the caregiver as point of safety 3) stranger anxiety - displayed by well attached babies, tested when stranger comes in and talks to caregiver and approcahes baby and left with baby without caregiver 4) seperation anxiety - displayed by well-attached babies. tested when caregiver leaves baby alone/ with a stranger 5) response to reunion - if securely attached will great caregivers return with pleasure and seek comfort. tested when caregiver returns after leaving room and reunited with baby.

Answer 47

the procedure has seven 'episodes' each lasting 3 mins 1) baby is encouraged to explore by caregiver 2) stranger enters and talks to caregiver, approaches baby 3) caregiver leaves 4) caregiver returns, stranger leaves 5) caregiver leaves baby alone 6) stranger returns 7) caregiver returns

Answer 48

found distinct patterns in the way babies behaved. they identified three main types of attachment - secure attachment -insecure - avoidant attachment -insecure -resistant attachment

Answer 49

type B - 60 - 75% of british toddlers children are more happy to explore but seeks proximity to caregiver ( secure base) shows moderate seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety requires and accepts comfort from caregiver on reunion

Answer 50

type A - 20-25% of british toddlers babys explore freely and do not seek proximity ( no secure base) shows little/ no seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety avoids conatct at reunion stage

Answer 51

type C - 3% of british toddlers baby explores less and seeks greater proximity than others shows considerable stranger and seperation anxiety resists comfort when reunited with caregiver

Answer 52

-mothers cause different types of attachment - sensitive, responsive and caring to a child = secure - inconsistent mothers create anxious resistant infants - ambivolant mothers who dismiss their infant create avoidant infants

Answer 53

unreasonable to make generalisations about all infant behaviour on basis of this sample. study and findings restricted to middle-class american infants so culturally biased

Answer 54

strange situation was developed in britain and US so may be culture-bound so only valid for use in certain cultures. babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the SS eg in one japanese study by Takahaski babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety and so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure-resistant. Takahaski suggests that this anxiety response was not due to high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in japan where the mother- baby separation is very rare. so difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring when used outside Europe and the US.

Answer 55

Most useful psychological measures allow us to predict what will happen in the future. Large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed type B - secure - tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and adulthood. In childhood this includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying (McCormick et al 2016,kokkinos 2007). Those with insecure resistant attachment and those not falling into types A,B and C tend to have the worst outcomes. Hazan and shaver 1987 show that infant attachment type can be seen later in romantic adult relationships. Children who are more secure make more friends than insecure infants. Counter - although the strange situation measures something that predicts later development, it may be measuring genetic differences in anxiety (kagan 1982). This means the strain situation may not actually measure attachment.

Answer 56

Inmain and Cassady (1988) study identified a further group of children. This classification group is referred to as disorganised/type D. These children show inconsistent behaviour, confusion and indecision. They also tend to freeze or stereotyped behaviour such as rocking.

Answer 57

1988 - meta -analysis the researchers looked at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries they also looked at the differences within the same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture

Answer 58

they found 32 studies of attachment were the strange situation was used. these were conducted in 8 countries, 15 in the US. overall the studies yielded the results for 1990 children the data was meta-analysed results being combined and weighted for sample size

Answer 59

secure attachment was the most common classification in all countries, but ranged from 50% in china to 75% in britain. secure attachment - findings were USA 65% where infant and caregiver have regular close contact. 57% in germany where independence is valued. in israel 64% where theres communal care in the kibbutz. in japan 68% where mother and child are rarely seperated insecure resistant- individualist cultures rates are similar to ainsworths original sample. USA = 14%, germany = 8%. not true for collectivist cultures as israel is 29% and japan is 27% insecure-avoidant = individulist cultures = 21% in USA and 35% in germany. rates were lower in collectivist cultures israel =7% and japan =5%

Answer 60

variations between results of studies within the same country were actually 150% greater than those between cultures. in the US one study found 46% securely attached compared to one sample as high as 90%

Answer 61

assessed 76 babies aged 12 months in Italy using the strange situation to see whether the proportion of attachment types still matched previous studies in Italy. found that 50% secure, 36% insecure-avoidant. this lower rate of secure attachment may be because increasingly mothers work long hours and use more childcare. this shows that cultural changes can affect patterns of attachment

Answer 62

compared the attachment types of 87 korean babies to proportions in other studies. found similar patterns of secure attachment to other studies. however with insecure categories there were differences - only one baby was avoidant. this pattern is similar to japan and may be because both countries have similar child-rearing practices.

Answer 63

Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews or meta-analysis. Sample characteristics such as poverty, social class and Urban/rural make up confound results as does the age of participants studied in different countries. Environmental variables may also differ e.g. smaller rooms with toys might encourage babies to explore more so that’s visible proximity seeking so more likely to be classed as avoidant. This means that studies assessing attachment types carried out in different countries may tell us about little cultural differences in attachment.

Answer 64

Impose Etic occurs when we assume an idea or technique that works in one cultural context will work in another eg of babies response to reunion with caregiver and strange situations in Britain and us lack of affection at reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment but in Germany it would be seen as a sign of independence so part of strange situation may not work in Germany. This means that it may be meaningless to compare attachment behaviours across cultures.

Answer 65

Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg recognised data from less western orientated cultures required to establish a more global perspective of attachment classifications, Africa, Southern American and eastern European Socialist countries are not represented and many studies have limited samples so not representative of each culture e.g. in Israel kibbutz and US Urban

Answer 66

Indigenous researchers are those from the same cultural background as the participants such as grossmann et al - Germans working with German participants. Using indigenous research aids a communication between researchers and participants and help prevent misunderstandings eg of instructions. this means that there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully increasing the validity of the study. Counter - this has not been true of all cross cultural attachment research e.g. Americans morelli and tronick 1991 investigated the Efé in Zaire. This means that some cross culture attachment research may communication errors and hence lacks validity

Answer 67

Continuous emotional (maternal) care from a mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development. Bowlby Believed that in infancy its as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins for physical health. - separation may lead to maternal deprivation

Answer 68

- separation means the child not physically being in the presence of the primary attachment figure - deprivation means losing emotional care as a result of the separation Deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered, thus separation doesn’t always cause deprivation.

Answer 69

If a child is separated from their mother (without substitute emotional care) for an extended time during the first 2 1/2 years then psychological damage is inevitable. This is a continuing risk up to the age of 5.

Answer 70

Privation is not having the opportunity to form a bond in the first instance and maternal deprivation is when a bond or attachment has been formed with the main caregiver but it has been disrupted for some reasons.

Answer 71

Lower IQ. If a child is deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period this may lead to mental retardation. Delayed intellectual development Supported by Goldfarb - followed up to 30 orphaned children until the age of 12. Half of the original sample had been fostered by four months of age while the other half remained in an orphanage. At 12 their IQs were assessed using a standard IQ test called the Stanford - Binet test. It was found that the fostered group had an average IQ of 96 whereas the group that remained in the orphanage averaged only 68, below the cut off point used to define IDD. Lower IQ in those who remained in institutions opposed to those who were fostered so had a higher standard of emotional care.

Answer 72

Lack of emotional care may also lead to affectionless psychopathy - the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality.

Answer 73

The sample in the study was 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing. All ‘ thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy - characterised by a lack of affection, guilt, and empathy. Families were also interviewed to establish any prolonged separations from mothers. Findings and conclusions - 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. In contrast only five of the remaining 30 ‘ thieves’ had experienced separations. This suggests prolonged early separation/ deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.

Answer 74

Before age 2 - looked in a room tied and beaten for 11 years. Age 13 - hospitalised, 59 lbs, no language and couldn’t walk. Placed in family and had expert help but limited development and remained in schools for mentally retarded. Age 20 - IQ increased but well below normal, restricted language and could not function in society. She suffered permanent emotional and developmental effects - did not catch up.

Answer 75

Studied institutionalised children in orphanages and hospitals which were poor quality and staff rarely interacted with the children. Found that a third of institutionalised children died by the age of one. Remain showed signs of ‘anaclitic depression’ apathy, withdrawal and helplessness. These symptoms reversed if the period of maternal deprivation was less than three months, but not if it was longer. Spitz compared children living in an orphanage with others, living in a penal institution where they were cared for by their mothers although physical conditions in the orphanages were better the children were developmentally inferior. Within 2yrs 57% of the orphanage were dead whereas all the ‘prison children’ were alive.

Answer 76

Conducted a case study of Czech twin boys isolated from age 18 months (locked in a cupboard). Abused by their stepmother physically and emotionally. Found at age 7 and were mentally retarded, scared, severely undernourished and with very little speech. Later they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to fully recover. Shows that severe deprivation can have positive outcomes provided that the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. Means that the period identified by Bowlby may be a ‘sensitive’ one but it is not critical.

Answer 77

Rutter (1981) may the distinction between deprivation and privation - privation has more serious effects. The children will be studied in the 44 thieves study and others he based his ideas such as gold wartime orphans may have been prived rather than deprived. This means that bowlby exaggerated the effects of deprivation on development.

Answer 78

The 44 thieves study is flawed because it was open to bias as Bowlby himself assessed both deprivation and psychopathy knowing what he hoped to find. Also goldfarbs study of wartime orphans is flawed because he used traumatised by participants who let good after-care this introducing confounding variables. This means that Bowlby originally had no solid evidence on which to base his theory of maternal deprivation..

Answer 79

Examined effects of institutional upbringing and later attachments. 65 children in the care home were assessed over a 16 year period. Participants in the study were all age 16 and had all been in institutional care until the age of four. During this time they had not been able to attachments because of the high turnover of staff. Age of two the children had on average 24 different carers each, at age 4 - 25 of children were returned their biological parents. 33 Were adopted and seven remained in the institution with occasional fostering. At age 16, the majority of adoptive mothers 17/21 felt that their child was deeply attached to them was only half of the restored children were described as deeply attached. Adolescence were also more often said by the others to be attached their father than the restored group. Institutional children had problems with siblings than a comparison group. There was no differences regarding the number of contacts with opposite sex friends or whether the 16-year-old currently had a boy or girlfriend compared to non-institutionalised adolescents. However, ex -institutional children had poorer relationships with peers than a comparison group. Teachers rated the ex - institutionalised group as more often quarrelsome, less often liked by other children and as bullying other children more than the comparison group. Conclusion - hodges and tizard believes that they’re findings demonstrate that children who are deprived of close and lasting attachments to adults in their first years of life can make such attachments later it’s just depend on the adults concerned and how much they nurture such attachments.

Answer 80

Babies go through 3 stages when caregiver leaves Protest - the child cries, screams and protests angrily when the parent leaves. They try to cling onto the parent. Despair - the child protesting begins to stop and they appear to be calmer although still upset. Child refuses others attempts for comfort and often seems withdrawn and uninterested in anything. Detachment - separation continues the child will start to engage with other people again. They will reject the caregiver on their return and show strong signs of anger

Answer 81

Behaviours - - rocking - to comfort themselves - poor social skills - had no opportunity to make an attachment so no internal working model - IQ - developmental delays - as no attachment figure, bored, less sociable, more aggressive, less intelligent as not cared for well and less toys and interaction so brain is not stimulated and doesn’t grow

Answer 82

Hard to make relationships with others, no ability to form attachments and ability to learn and poor language acquisition.

Answer 83

Children equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and strangers. Highly unusual as most children at age 2 show stranger anxiety. Rutter (2006) explained disinhibited attachment as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during sensitive period for attachment formation eg in Romanian institutions a child may have 50 carers but doesn’t spend enough time with any of them to form a secure attachment.

Answer 84

In rutters study most children showed signs of intellectual disability but most of those adopted before age of 6 months caught up with control group by age 4. Damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before age of 6 months when attachment forms.

Answer 85

Longitudinal study of 165 Romanian orphans adopted into British families in ERA study. Aim of ERA has been to investigate the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 15. A group of 52 children from Uk adopted around the same time served as a control group. Children followed were in 4 groups 1. 58 under age of 6 months 2. 59 between 6 – 24 months 3. 48 over 24 months 4. A control group of 52 British adoptees

Answer 86

When children first arrived in uk half the adoptees showed delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely undernourished. At age 6 the children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment and overly friendly behaviour to strange adults. At age 11 the adopted showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. Those adopted before age of six months was 102 compared with 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 yrs and 77 for those adopted after two years. Those who showed disinhibited attachment at age 6 still displayed this behaviour at 11 this included – attention seeking, clingliness and social behaviour directed indiscriminately to all adults this was rare in children adopted before 6 months. In a small number of cases, quasi – autism tendencies were identified with children having problems understanding the meaning of social contexts. Intellectual problems continued at the 15yr follow up. These findings support bowlbys view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments – a failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months (and after age of 2years) appears to have long lasting effects.

Answer 87

Institutionalised children are usually smaller as lack of emotional care could affect growth hormones causing underdevelopment ( gardener 1972). Gina studied the case of an 8 month girl who had to be fed through a tube due to malformation. Her mum would never cuddle her for fear of dislodging the tube. Eight months old she was withdrawn and physically stunted and she was admitted to hospital. With attention of hospital staff, she thrived off the attention and return to normal.

Answer 88

The researchers used the strange situation to assess attached in 95 Romanian children age 12 to 31 months most of their lives in institutional care. They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never experienced institutional care. Only 19% of the institutionalised group was secure attached (74% of controls) and 44% of the group had characteristics of disinhibited attachment ( 20% of the controls).

Answer 89

Improved conditions for children growing up outside their family more. Studying the Romanian orphans has improved psychologists understanding of the effects of early institutional care and how to prevent the worst of these effects. This led to improvements in the conditions experienced by looked after children - children growing up in the care system e.g. children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child instead children have one or two ‘ key workers’ central role in the emotional care. Educational care is now seen as an undesirable option for looked after children. A considerable effort is made to accommodate such children in foster care or have them adopted. Instead, children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided.

Answer 90

Latest data from the ERA study looked at the children in there early to mid 20s so we do not currently have data to answer some of the most interesting research questions but the long-term effects of early institutional care. These research questions include the lifetime prevalence of mental health problems and participants, success performing and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships. It will take a long time to gather this day because the longitudinal designer of the study it will be sometime before we know more completely what the long-term effects are for the Romanian orphans. Improvements could have continued and they catch their peers in development in the early adult hood.

Answer 91

Provide evidence that the adverse effects of institutionalisation can be overcome with adequate substitute care, children adopted with affectionate families coped better on measures of behavioural and peer relationships than children returned their original families.

Answer 92

Previous orphan studies of revolved children had experienced varying degrees of trauma and difficult to know the effects of neglect, physical abuse and bereavement from those of institutional care. But children from Romanian orphan is overall had been handed over by loving parents who could not afford to keep them. So results were much less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences = high internal validity

Answer 93

Bowlby (1969) suggests that a baby’s first attachment quality is crucial because it provides a template that will affect the nature of the future relationships. This is due to the influence of internal working model created by that first attachment. A child whose first experience is of loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure assumes this is how all relationships are meant to be. They will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them. Good attachment = good relationship expectations A child with bad experiences for the first attachment with these experiences to bear on later relationships. This may mean they struggle to form relationships in the first place or they do not behave appropriately in them. Bad attachment = bad relationship expectations

Answer 94

Securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships.

Answer 95

Security attached children are less likely to be involved in bullying whereas insecure-avoidant children are most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant are most likely to be bullies (Myron-Wilson and Smith 1998)

Answer 96

People based their parenting start on their internal working model. Bailey et al found the majority of mothers had the same attachment classification to their babies as they had to their own mothers.

Answer 97

Assessed bowlbys idea that early attention styles will be reflected in adult romantic relationships. Conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships. Method – questionnaire Design – repeated measures Variables – infant atttachment type and attitude to the most important love relationship. Procedure – analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had 3 sections 1. Assessing respondents current or most significant relationship 2. Assessed general love experiences such as number of parents 3. Assess attachment type by responding to one of the three statements Findings - 56% of respondents secure, 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. Adults with secure attachment in childhood were more accepting and supportive of their partners despite their faults. Adults with avoidant infant attachments were afraid of intimacy, more highs and lows and experienced jealousy. Adults with resistant relationships were prone to obsession and extreme sexual attraction and extreme jealousy. Love experience and attitudes towards love (internal working model) related to attachment type. Securely - believes love is enduring had mutual trust and less likely to get divorced Insecure - felt was rare and out of love easily and found relationships less easy were more likely to be divorced.

Answer 98

Most studies assess participants attachment type in adult hood (not infancy) but asking questions in questionnaires or interviews. Asking questions realise on the honesty and accurate perception of the participants. Another problem is these studies assess attachment in late childhood or adulthood and assumed it has remained the same since infancy. This means that the measures of attachment may not be valid.

Answer 99

Some studies do assess attachment infancy which means the assessment of early attachment is valid. However even these studies may have validity problems because associations between attachment quality and later development may be affected by confounding variables e.g. association doesn’t mean causality as parenting style may influence attachment quality and later development. Alternatively, genetically influenced personality may be an influence on both factors. We can never be sure that it is early attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development.

Answer 100

Reviews of studies linking attachment to later development Fearon and Roisman 2017 concluded infinite attachments predicts later attach, emotional well-being attachment to own children. How Strong relationship is between early attachment type and later development depends on both the attachment type and the aspect of later development. Disorganised attachment was most predictive eg of later mental disorder, so this means that insecure attachment appears to convey a disadvantage for children’s development. Secure attachment as a baby appears to convey advantages for future developments. Counter - not all evidence supports link between infant attachment and later development. Eg the Regensburg longitudinal study (Becker- stoll et al 2008) found no evidence of continuity of attachment type from age 1 to 16 yrs. This means it is not clear how strongly attachment influence later development.